For me it's not an issue. I wear my speedie almost every other day, and there is not a single mark on the hesalite since I got a new one a few months back (during a service). I'd say a wee bit of polywatch once a year would be just fine for me. I don't think about it, and I am not more careful when wearing this watch than one with a more robust crystal.

For me, the warm look of the hesalite easily outweighs the possibility of scratches. And even if the worst should happen and you make a deep scratch, a new hesalite can be had for peanuts. Not so for a sapphire.

 

when i had one, i lightly brushed the plaster wall in my house and it scratched pretty easily

 

So, my question is, to you hesalite Speedy owners, how *easily* does the hesalite scratch? Will light grazing through everyday use scratch this watch on a daily basis? Or does it take more than a light grazing to scratch it?

Easy like "how the hell did that get in there?!?" b-)
Even if you never hit your watch against something, if you view the hesalite in the sun after a couple of weeks you'll instantly chant above phrase ;-)

Then again, scratches can be polished out that easily that you quickly start not to mind...

 

easy like "how the hell did that get in there?!?" b-)
even if you never hit your watch against something, if you view the hesalite in the sun after a couple of weeks you'll instantly chant above phrase ;-)

then again, scratches can be polished out that easily that you quickly start not to mind...

+ 10! |>

 

My 3570 is my daily wearer, along with my 2255, so it gets about 50% of the wrist time. I wear it for all occasions, running, working, around the house and so on. It is NOT as easily scratched as you might think. A dab of polywatch about once a year should polish out the small scratches that you won't even notice unless you're looking for them while shining a light on the watch.

 

Thanks for the replies all!

 

I wear my pro daily for everything it is not a babied watch at all, the crystal has not been polished for well over a year and is showing no signs of any major scratches that would draw your eye. I may be wrong but it seems to me like your shirt or jumper sleeve polishes it as you ear it.

Nick.

 

Understand your concern because i had the same thoughts but go for the hesalite. You will not regret it. It is easy to polish.

 

I have found that the easiest way to scratch a hesalite crystal is to rub it with a sheet of coarse grit sandpaper.

The hardest way to scratch it is with normal everyday wear.

:-d

Fr. John†

 

So easy that this guy could do it:

 

I've been wearing my 3570.50 every day for the past four months or so and it's been much less scratch prone that I worried it would be. About two weeks after I bought it, I whacked it pretty hard on a glass door knob. It left a big mark on the crystal, and I was mortified. I got out the Polywatch, and after a few minutes of buffing the crystal looked like new.

 

In my experience, these things will scratch it:

• Rubbing against a plaster wall;
• Putting brush and branches in a refuse bag;
• Resting the watch crystal-down on a laminate countertop.

Obviously, these things can be avoided. Personally, however, I like the way a scratched hesalite crystal looks. In any event, Polywatch can get the crystal looking pretty close to new (although I was never able to get rid of a slight hazing noticeable in the harshest light).

 

Every few months I put some toothpaste on the crystal, swirl it around with my fingers and then buff it off with a bathtowel...that has taken out all but the really deep guage that I've put in the crystal.

Good luck and don't let that crystal sway you from a great watch...it has a character that saphire can't touch!

 

pretty easy....I was playing around with my daughter when I hit the watch against the hardwood floor and scratched it...thank goodness for polywatch...

 

i scratched mine and it left i right mark on it really deep. i searched for a new one on net but didnt realize they are so many different sorts(the cost reallly cheap) but then i read in this forum about using really fine sand paper and then polywatch and it came out looking new again(thanks forum), im looking into buying a speedmaster and took my wife with me and she prefers the hesalite rather then the sapphire(i prefer the hesalite) so for me i would go for hesalite for the looks alone and just polish any scratches out when i need to its worth it for the looks.

 

My experience is that it scratches fairly easily but then again...its fairly easy to get rid of them. Polywatch leaves the crystal (sorry....hesalite) looking brand-new after 2 minutes.

Non-issue.

 

It scratches fairly easily but mostly just minor scrapes and swirlies. They are not really noticeable until you pick up a lot of them. Then just polywatch them away.

The scratches don't bother me much at all but one thing that does bother me is that it is a paint magnet. Knock it on painted wood and it'll streak it in a heartbeat. The paint comes off with some fingernail scraping but it is annoying.

 

It will pick up normal hairlines but as others have said it is easy fixed with polywatch. I have only used polywatch twice in 2 years and the last time was after about 18 months so anything you pick up in "normal use" (not banking it against doors etc) will not be significant

2 of my 4 watches have Hesalite and I prefer the look so much more than Sapphire.

Trust me the Hesalite and scratches thing is much ado about nothing

 

i can only repeat what everyone else has said here.

depends what type of person you are aswell. for many a watch is a jewelery item that needs to be in pristine condition. youll only get that if you dont wear the speedy.

fo those of us who like some wabi on their stuff the scratches will be of no problem unless its a really mean one across the center.

i have my watch since 2 months and wear it daily. its got quite few hairline scratches, but you dont see them unless you focus the crystal under bright light.
it also got a couple of bigger (not deep) scratches, but you dont see or notice them unless you focus on the crystal and actualy look for scratches.
dont notice the scratches at all while checking the time

funny thing is, i got most scratches from partying, and not from work, which puts the watch alot more in dangerous situations. especialy when im working at assembly

and what people describe as warmth of hesalite. its hard to describe, and you wont instantly notice it but its true.
when you look from an angle at the crystal the dissortion of the dial looks clear and smooth

 

Mine was bought new late 2005 (77mil). I rotate all my watches during the week. It has only one very, very minor scratch ever on the crystal!! Never used anything to clean the scratches off the crystal. Still looks like new.

It definately takes more than breathing on it to scratch it. It's been hit before and has been worn in all kinds of situations.

 

My speedy is 2 yes 4 months old. Once I was doing some wiring and banged my hand on something. Without looking I knew it would leave a mark. Nasty. Two passes with Polywatch and good as new. I also have a 45 year old Seamaster with an original hesalite crystal. Still looks beautiful. sapphire is great but I would say that a sapphire watch with outer AR coating presents more potential problems then hesalite. if the AR is damaged there is no home brew fix. it's either remove the AR entirely or a new crystal. $$

 

3510 pretty much daily since last December. I'm a writer not a mechanic, but I do generally wear it working out and only remove it for certain higher-impact-risk exercises. Doesn't scratch too easily on plastic or polished wood but sharper impacts or coarser materials do leave marks. So far, everything but one deeper one has come out with the 30-second T-shirt & thumb thing. Bad one came out 80% that way and with a little toothpaste on a Q-tip, and I'm guessing the toothpaste had nothing to do with it because it was a gel. I figure the reason toothpaste works (if it does) is that tooth paste is slightly granular. The residual scratch is way too difficult to spot under the one perfect light angle to worry about.

How much harder is it to put a scratch in crystal than to put a scratch in Hesalite that's too deep to buff out, anyway? When I was deciding between a 3510 and 3539, I justified the reduced resistance to scratches based on the assumption that the lightest impact capable of leaving any scratch on crystal was probably lighter than the heaviest impact that could still be buffed out of Hesalite with a full PW buffing.

 

I think Hesalite scratches pretty easily, but then again you can very easily
polish it with Polywatch which only takes 5min.
On the other hand this softness also means it survives sharper impacts without
irreparable damage.

The protruding saphire of my Explorer however, while very hard, doesn't survive
sharper impacts nicely, it's already got a very small chip on the edge and a
scratch on the surface. The chip from impact with a metal container and
the scratch from contact with another person's watch!
Both can't be buffed out with Polywatch, obviously.

And then of course saphire fails catastrophically and shatters, which might even
damage the internals of your watch if you don't stop it immediately.
Hesalite fails "gradually" and doesn't shatter like that, it (mostly) cracks, which
gives you a bit more time to have it repaired.

Hope this helps
Lars

 

I just received my Speedmaster 3570.50, and at first, wasn't sure how much I would like having a hesalite crystal on the watch. At first, it seemed to feel somewhat cheap compared to the sapphire that protects my Seamaster. But, after extensive reading, I'm starting to change my tune. One of the things that makes this watch so attractive is the raised crystal. I'm EXTREMELY careful with my Seamaster, and I still have a couple nicks on the bezel. Had the crystal been raised like the Speedmaster, those would surely have been chips out of the sapphire, which I would not have been pleased about replacing. Needless to say, I'm warming up to the idea of having hesalite on this watch for protective purposes.

However, from an aesthetic standpoint, what do these crystals look like after some wear, if they aren't polished. For example, I imagine I'll keep polishing it 2-3 times per year just to keep it fresh looking, but how will it look between polishing sessions? It won't have that hazy marred up look like I bought the watch at a carnival, right?

 

Having had both, i would not go the sapphire again. Hesalite if damaged as so many other posters have said, is very quickly brought to new, and i.m.o. looks and feels much better.b-)

 

Hesalite scratches pretty easily, but it's just as easy to remove the scratches. Before I found out about Polywatch, I used to lick my thumb and rub away to get rid of minor scratches. :-d